My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 203: Uneven distribution of the spoils, thick fog

Zhao Yun captured Chen Gong, Zhang Liao and Cao Xing, and everything in Xia Pi City was settled.

Liu Bei's reputation in Xuzhou was much better than Lu Bu's. Around noon that day, the soldiers and civilians in the city had received the news: it was not Cao Cao who was coming! It was Liu Shijun's army!

This made those who were originally uneasy and wanted to resist completely relax their fighting spirit, and they obediently obeyed the new ruler. In just one day, order was restored in Xia Pi City.

On the morning of the same day, in Ling County, Zhuge Liang pretended that he had just received Chen Deng's request for help, and then "dragged his sick body" and pretended to mobilize 8,000 military garrisons - that is, the infantry that Zhao Yun had transferred from Jiujiang County to help the people of Guangling County during the busy farming season, and went upstream along the Sishui waterway to take over Xiaxiang County.

Zhuge Liang did not arrive at Xiaxiang until nightfall, but Chen Deng had already sent a messenger to contact Zhuge Liang in advance, so the more than a thousand local Xuzhou defenders in Xiaxiang surrendered without any conflict.

Zhuge Liang left 3,000 men in Xiaxiang County, and the remaining 5,000 men continued to march north after a night's sleep to help take over the defense of Xia Pi City.

The next morning, Zhao Yun had already led his cavalry and some newly surrendered former Xia Pi garrisons to various counties to take over. Tan County, the seat of Donghai County in the north, had already been taken by the Chen family. Zhao Yun stationed 3,000 Xia Pi soldiers in Tancheng to assist in the defense of the Yishui line.

There is no need to elaborate on the other numerous small counties, such as Quyang, Houqiu, Quli, Siwu, Liangcheng, Licheng, and Zhuqi, as they were all settled by imperial decree within a day or two.

These counties are all on the east bank of the Yishui River. As long as Liu Bei's army holds the Yishui defense line between Xia Pi and Tancheng and prevents Xiahou Yuan from crossing the river, all the counties from Yidong to the sea can be taken at will.

On the evening of the day when Zhao Yun entered Tancheng, Xiahou Yuan's army rushed to the banks of the Yishui River.

Zhuge Liang divided his troops and stationed them at the confluence of the Yishui and Sishui rivers west of Xiapi City to stop Xiahou Yuan. He first used courtesy and then used force to show Liu Bei's army's helplessness:

"Don't be surprised, Captain Xiahou! Chen Yuanlong is loyal to the court and has a long history with my lord Liu Xuande. He started the rebellion in a hurry and was discovered by Chen Gong. He is in imminent danger. My lord has always been kind and righteous, and he cannot sit idly by and watch his old friend being killed by Chen Gong, so he sent Zhao Zhonglang to rescue him.

Now Chen Deng knows that he has failed, and fears that Cao Sikong will be suspicious of his original intention of surrendering, so he dares not enter the court again. Please forgive me! "

(Note: Zhao Yun was the Lieutenant Colonel of the Guards, so he was called Zhao Zhonglang)
Although Xiahou Yuan had a hot temper, he knew that Cao Cao had no intention of falling out with Liu Bei. Liu Bei's stealing of the fruits of victory was indeed unkind, but he could not find any fault with it, so Xiahou Yuan did not dare to act rashly and could only wait for Cao Cao to come in person before making a decision.

In the end, Xiahou Yuan just asked his soldiers a question in unison across the Yishui River with anger in his heart:
"Zhuge Liang! You said Chen Gong saw through Chen Deng's intention to surrender, so where is Chen Gong now? How do you know that all this was not a conspiracy between you and Chen Gong! Otherwise, how could Zhao Yun come so quickly! Is there a trick? If the court finds hard evidence to prove that you and Chen Gong are in collusion, it will be treason!"

In fact, Xiahou Yuan had no confidence at all, he just tried his best to take a chance, hoping to find some injustice in the opponent and squeeze some benefits out of him.

Unfortunately, with Xiahou Yuan's intelligence, Zhuge Liang was already prepared for what he could think of.

He immediately ordered his men to ride a small boat across the Yishui River in front of the soldiers of both armies and deliver a wooden box to Xiahou Yuan.

He also sent the messenger who brought the wooden box with him to convey the message: "After Chen Gong was defeated, he led his personal soldiers to retreat to his own house and resisted stubbornly, refusing to be bound, and finally committed suicide by setting himself on fire.

After Zhao Zhonglang put out the fire, he went in to search and saw the silver seal of the Prime Minister of Pei on the corpse. He then realized that it was the guilty minister Chen Gong, who was beheaded and presented as a gift. Captain Xiahou wants it, so take it. "

Xiahou Yuan was speechless. Looking at the charred head with burnt flesh in front of him, who knew if it was Chen Gong? But the wooden box also contained the silver seal of the Prime Minister of Pei State, so Xiahou Yuan could not deny it completely.

The messenger also very carefully asked Xiahou Yuan to sign a document, which was simply to prove that "the silver seal of the Prime Minister of Pei State has been delivered to the general sent by the court." Xiahou Yuan had no choice but to sign in front of the soldiers of both armies.

After receiving the charred head and the silver seal, Xiahou Yuan had no choice but to change his destination and go upstream along the Yishui River to try his luck in Tancheng. The result was of course undoubted, as he was directly blocked by Zhao Yun in Tancheng at Yixi and was not allowed to cross the river.

Zhao Yun also stated that he was entrusted by Chen Deng to protect his father Chen Gui.

Since Chen Deng had surrendered to Liu Bei, Liu Bei would of course help Chen Deng fulfill his filial duty. How could he allow his father to be in danger in a city controlled by Lu Bu's subordinates?

Xiahou Yuan couldn't afford to turn against Zhao Yun, so he had to continue upstream along the Yishui River to find other breakthroughs.

But Tancheng is already the first large plain county town that the Yishui River passes through after flowing out of Mount Meng. If it goes further upstream, Xiahou Yuan's army will enter the Yimeng Mountains.

After many days of hard marching, he had entered the territory of Langya County. He first encountered sporadic resistance from Zang Ba's subordinates, but was quickly defeated by Xiahou Yuan. Then he attacked upstream, and Zang Ba finally couldn't stand it anymore and took the initiative to surrender to Xiahou Yuan.

Xiahou Yuan was also surprised that Zang Ba was so weak. If he had known this, he should have attacked Langya County two months earlier! He shouldn't have just surrounded Pengcheng! It was so quick, and there was no need to worry about the food supply!

But then Xiahou Yuan realized a problem: Zang Ba was not able to withstand the attack because he was attacked from both sides! According to Zang Ba's account, it seemed that Chen Deng also sent people to contact the forces of General Yuan Shao, or more precisely, Yuan Tan in Beihai.

Yuan Tan expressed his willingness to surrender Xia Pi and Dong Hai to the imperial court and asked the general to send troops to support him. Then Yuan Tan sent troops south from Bei Hai County and invaded Lang Ya, intending to break through Lang Ya County and Dong Hai County and attack Xia Pi.

However, because Yuan Tan received the news last, his troops only had time to capture two mountainous counties in Langya County, Zhu County and Ju County, located to the east of Yishui and Mengshan.

When Xiahou Yuan received this news, he felt his scalp tingling: even Yuan Shao's forces were involved!

However, after the numbness, he soon felt relieved and realized that this was a good opportunity to get rid of the accusations against him personally - if only Liu Bei participated in the sneak attack to divide up Lu Bu's territory, then Sikong would still blame himself for not doing his job well. If even Yuan Shao's forces were involved, then the situation was indeed complicated and it was not the fault of Zhan.

This problem has become too big, and it is time for Cao Cao himself to worry about it. How can Xiahou Yuan, a military commander, be qualified to take care of such a big thing?

After completely giving up the struggle, Xiahou Yuan pacified the five counties of Yixi in Donghai County, and accepted the surrender of all the counties of Langya except Zhu County and Ju County. He then led his troops back to Pengcheng and continued to besiege Lu Bu.

Lü Bu, trapped in the siege of Pengcheng, didn't even know what was happening in the outside world during the past seven or eight days, nor did he make any attempt to break out. He just indulged in wine and sex every day in despair, and seemed to have realized that he was doomed.

……

While Xiahou Yuan gave up struggling, Cao Cao, who was far away in Runan and Yingchuan, was extremely anxious and could not rest for a moment. He even suffered from headaches twice due to excessive anxiety.

When Cao Cao heard the news that Chen Deng had started a rebellion, which was then discovered and suppressed by Chen Gong, and his life or death was unknown, he felt a splitting headache.

On the one hand, he was angry at Chen Deng's incompetence and lack of secrecy; on the other hand, he urged Xiahou Yuan's envoy to find out the follow-up situation as soon as possible and report it in detail without delay.

Fortunately, Cao Cao also knew that he was more than 800 miles away from Xuzhou. Unless he grew wings and flew back, he would definitely not be able to make it in time to coordinate the response personally. So there was no point in being anxious. He could only hope that Xiahou Yuan would adapt to the situation.

He had just captured Yuan Shu, who was seriously injured while resisting arrest, and he could not let Yuan Shu die in prison. Therefore, it was most important to take him back to Xudu, conduct a quick trial, and personally supervise the execution.

Lu Bu was only fighting for territory, but Yuan Shu was a traitor who wanted to claim the throne. In the context of Liu Bei's capture of the pseudo-capital last year, Cao Cao needed the prestige that came from personally capturing, judging and killing Yuan Shu. Cao Cao saw clearly which was more important.

So even though he knew that Xuzhou had been lost, he still insisted on returning to Xudu in person. He set off on May 19th and arrived on May 24th.

Then a hasty trial was carried out, and at the grand court meeting on the 26th, the emperor formally issued an edict to convict him. On the 27th, Yuan Shu was taken to Shi Cao and beheaded. Afterwards, a grand banquet was held for a day to celebrate his victory and to make it known to the world.

With the surrender of Yuan Shu, Cao Cao's prestige in the court finally returned to its peak.

But he had no time to rest. On the second day after the banquet, on May 29th, he endured the pain of headache, took Hubao and rode on boats and horses, and rushed to Pengcheng at double the speed.

After six days of marching, the army finally met Xiahou Yuan on June 5th and listened to his comprehensive report in person.

At this time, twenty days had passed since Xiahou Yuan first tried to rescue Chen Deng. Everything had already been settled, and Xiahou Yuan had figured out some things that he had not been able to understand before.

Xiahou Yuan explained to Cao Cao exactly what he understood and all the objective facts he had observed.

Cao Cao's face turned pale, his brows furrowed. "Even Yuan Tan intervened? Just to take those counties in Yidong of Langya County? This is beneficial to Liu Bei no matter how you look at it!
If Yuan Tan was really greedy, he should have occupied all the fertile land in the Yishui River Valley in Langya County, whether on the east bank or the west bank. Could this be Liu Bei's trick? Yuan Tan's talent was recommended by Liu Bei!"

Xiahou Yuan said quickly: "Yuan Tan was not completely confined to Yidong. He just occupied Yidong first, and then he took advantage of our army's capture of Zang Ba to occupy Dongguan and Yangdu."

After hearing this latest additional information, Cao Cao became a little unsure.

In fact, after occupying various counties and Ju County, it was Yuan Tan's own initiative to continue to be greedy and take more. It was not Liu Bei who sent Chen Deng to suggest it.

But this is also normal, the Yuan family father and son are more or less greedy. When Zang Ba lost his backing and everyone turned against him, what was wrong with grabbing a few more counties?

Little did he know that it was this self-assertion that released more smoke screens, making it difficult for Cao Cao to see through them.

(End of this chapter)